Business news live: UK manufacturing shrinks for fifth month in a row amid Brexit turmoil
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The UK's manufacturing sector shrank for the fifth month in a row, with output, orders and employment all shrinking, a new poll suggests.
IHS Markit's purchasing managers index (PMI) found that emp[loyment in manufacturing fell at its fastest pace since February 2013.
House prices also dipped unexpectedly in September as uncertainty around Brexit dampened activity, according to Nationwide’s index.
The live blog has ended.
SCS sales slump afte August bank holiday 'horror' and Brexit woes
Press Association - Shares in sofa chain ScS Group have tumbled after it revealed a recent sales hit from hot weather and Brexit uncertainty.
The group's stock fell more than 7 per cent after it bemoaned "more challenging" trading since its year end in July, with like-for-like orders down by 7.6 per cent in the two months to 29 September.
ScS chief executive David Knight said sales had been knocked by the "record temperatures experienced by the UK across the August bank holiday weekend and the increasing political and economic uncertainty we are currently facing in the UK".
Harland and Wolff workers proved right, says union
Unite says the government should trust workers like those at the Belfast shipyard saved today.
Over half of UK female entrepreneurs experience gender bias
Women are routinely facing discriminatory questions when they seek to raise capital for their businesses, research by HSBC suggests.
The bank found that women founders also receive 6 per cent less funding than their male counterparts.
More than four in 10 female entrepreneurs said potential funders had quizzed them about their family circumstances while a similar proportion felt their credibility as a business leader had been questioned.
Overall, HSBC found that women in the UK faced the highest level of gender bias of any country when seeking investment. The USA was close behind.
A nice run-down of Harland and Wolff's history from the BBC:
UK manufacturing still struggling - output,orders, employment down
Harland and Wolff may have been saved but UK manufacturing is still in a bad way according to the latest industry snapshot survey.
IHS Markit's PMI survey suggests the sector shrank for a fifth consecutive month, with output, orders and employment all declining.
Employment fell at the fastest pace since February 2013.
The September poll of purchasing managers, which is supposed to give a preview of what's in store for the sector, edged up to 48.3 from 47.4. Anything under 50 points to falling activity.
Jamie Oliver paid himself £5.2m despite restaurant closures and 1,000 job losses
Jamie Oliver paid himself £5.2m last year despite the collapse of his eponymous restaurant chain.
Earlier this year, the celebrity chef announced that his company would close 22 of its 25 restaurants, including all but one branch of Jamie’s Italian, along with Barbecoa and Fifteen London.
The closures resulted in approximately 1,000 job losses.
John Lewis axes one third of senior staff
John Lewis is to cut 75 top jobs as it seeks to slash costs by merging Waitrose with its department store business.
The partnership will merge its two top teams in February, cutting 75 senior jobs and saving around £100m.
O'Leary blames CAA for Thomas Cooks collapse
Reuters - Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority was partly to blame for the chaos surrounding Thomas Cook’s bankruptcy and should make tougher licensing demands to prevent airline collapses stranding passengers.
“How you can license Thomas Cook in April as fit to fly for another 12 months and then it goes bust in September. (It) is something the CAA needs to address,” O’Leary said at a Reuters Newsmaker event.
“The CAA should be much more aggressive in requiring the shareholders of those companies to put up much more cash to get through the year, rather than allowing them to continually fail.”
Thomas Cook auditor investigated
Thomas Cook’s auditor is under investigation by the accounting watchdog over its checking of the collapsed tour operator’s books.
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) announced on Tuesday it had open up a probe into EY, the latest in a string of checks on audit firms who have been increasingly in the spotlight following several high-profile company failures.
The FRC said it would look at EY’s audit of Thomas Cook’s financial statements for the year ending 30 September 2018, adding that the probe could be broadened if required.
Top executive at Swiss bank Credit Suisse resigns over spying scandal
A top executive at Swiss bank Credit Suisse has resigned over a spying scandal that has taken in a suicide, a public confrontation in a Zurich street and an open rift between two of the country’s most prominent bankers.
Credit Suisse said on Tuesday that chief operating officer (COO) Pierre-Olivier Bouée has stepped down after admitting that he alone initiated surveillance of Iqbal Khan after the former head of wealth management at the bank left and joined rival UBS.
An internal investigation found that Mr Bouée arranged the snooping by private detectives from 4 September to see if Mr Khan was trying to poach employees or clients from Credit Suisse.
Full story is here:
Former Credit Suisse executive Iqbal Khan was tailed by private investigators hired by the bank
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